It is officially striper season here on the Cape and surrounding areas. Here’s a quick forecast and fishing plan for ya: The boys and I are gonna go out tomorrow to try and catch a few.

It can be a little tough to pinpoint where exactly you’re going to find the most success with these first wave migratory fish, especially if you’re looking to make a report versus chase a report (which I’d urge you to do, especially given the volatility and randomness that encompasses the first few mirgatory waves). These insane Southwest and West wind systems that we’ve had the past few days could mean great things for an early start to the migration waves. Although temps have been well below average, so who knows! All I know is that migratory fish are being caught right now and we’re going to try and find them. In planning out locations, I like to break it down into three main types this time of year.

1. Wayyyy back in the rivers. Think rivers that have herring runs or some other prevalent bait this time of year. You’ll mostly be finding holdover fish that are becoming active with the increased water temperature and the herring heading upriver to spawn.
2. River mouths and inlets, small bays. This includes areas well below head of tide, around current rips and bridge pilings. You could see a mix of migratory fish and resident fish starting to drop out to eat silversides and crabs.
3. Open beaches, larger bays. The fish you’ll find here are most certainly going to be migratory fish (or residents that have left to go to the open water and returned recently, if you subscribe to that theory). This is where you may find the migration “head on.” These fish are usually transient in these locations so it’ll pay to just keep casting throughout a portion of the tide.

Our plan is to work a few systems close by through the entire tide cycle tomorrow–most likely starting up river at high tide and working our way down as the tide ebbs.

I’ll be throwing small flies on intermediate or sink link around the deeper sections of the rivers. Last season around this time, we had great success (in the Borat voice) with Hogy 1oz Pro Tails, dropping them to the bottom along a current seam and almost jigging them up slowly.

This week, I plan to drop the Old Town Sportsman PDL 120 into a few systems in the afternoon into evening and hope to get the first striper on the new boat. Some areas I hope to check out are upper Buzzards Bay Cape side just outside of a few inlets on the outgoing tide. I’d love to make a trip down to Rhode Island, too. Although I may wait until the Cinder Worms start getting going to head down there.

In other news, I went down to the new BHO Westbrook location last night to meet with the fellas and talk Daiwa products and the Grand Opening event. Next weekend (May 1st and 2nd), BHO will be having a grand opening event with industry reps and seminars and all that good stuff. If you haven’t been down to BHO, you definitely need to check it out. It’s worth the drive, especially if you’re a kayak angler.

What’s your prediction for this weekend? Big numbers of migratory fish this weekend? Or are we still too early? Let’s make some reports. See you out there.